Have you ever looked at a company and said they are lucky?
Well this was a brought up in a discussion that we were having sometime recently. Looking around, it surely appears like the obvious answer is yes, most definitely. Right now 5 names can come to your mind without much thinking.
We are looking at companies whose success story reads like it has been taken directly out of a story book, companies which performed when everyone else thought they were about to close shop, or companies which started so small (in dormitories, bedrooms, garages) and right now they play in the big league
"There is no luck in business" This statement does sound reckless, rash, bold and outright foolhardy but in my opinion, true to a great extent
"Lucky companies" all have something in common, good leadership. A good leader, just like a sports team captain has to rely on very healthy amounts of motivation. This has to be distributed in equal measure to staff members. They have to find a way of bringing out the very best in their teams, to inspire in the worst situations. These leaders also have very loyal teams, who find purpose in what they do, a reason to go to work, not just to earn a paycheck. Most importantly, that they are part of a greater course
These leaders also rely on gut instinct, and sometimes failing through it, but this does not weigh them down, rather it is a way of learning one way of not doing something. Sometimes it means giving it your all, knowing that you have nothing to loose anyway. Remember the champions league final, liverpool-ac milan?
Debatable, but true
On a side note, I have never really been a great fan of tusker project fame until recently, when one lady, Doreen, christened the purple diva has delighted and irritated in many ways. This 'diva' does not even have nine lives, rather, almost 20. It makes great viewing to watch, and I have seen emotions whirled up so much with others switching off the tv in the process
I admire her and would like her to go much further, after all, aren't individuals, like businesses, "lucky???"
Sunday 8 July 2012
Saturday 26 May 2012
When to FIRE a Customer
"The customer is always right". Really??
The above phrase is supported by Mahtma Gandhi's quote “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.”
Think back to the times when you have been a customer and when you have clung to the above statements and demanded for service. However, sometimes as customers we do go overboard and instead insult the very status of customer and end up being a nuisance, hence the need to be FIRED!
Most businesses placate the customers so much that the customers end up with outrageous demands and businesses compromise relationships with their employees..
Think hard at this, if a business sides with an angry, unreasonable, straight out of mars client instead of its employee, where does that leave the employee?
Case in point:
For businesses to put unreasonable customers first instead of their employees, it amounts to pure betrayal.
The customer is always right is wrong: simply because
Of course, this does not mean that employees can get away with crap customer service. It simply means some customers are just plain wrong, that businesses are better off without them, and that managers siding with unreasonable customers over employees is a very bad idea, that results in worse customer service.
So put your people first. And watch them put the customers first.
The above phrase is supported by Mahtma Gandhi's quote “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.”
Think back to the times when you have been a customer and when you have clung to the above statements and demanded for service. However, sometimes as customers we do go overboard and instead insult the very status of customer and end up being a nuisance, hence the need to be FIRED!
Most businesses placate the customers so much that the customers end up with outrageous demands and businesses compromise relationships with their employees..
Think hard at this, if a business sides with an angry, unreasonable, straight out of mars client instead of its employee, where does that leave the employee?
Case in point:
One woman who frequently flew on Southwest, was constantly disappointed with every aspect of the company’s operation. In fact, she became known as the “Pen Pal” because after every flight she wrote in with a complaint.
She didn’t like the fact that the company didn’t assign seats; she didn’t like the absence of a first-class section; she didn’t like not having a meal in flight; she didn’t like Southwest’s boarding procedure; she didn’t like the flight attendants’ sporty uniforms and the casual atmosphere.
Her last letter, reciting a litany of complaints, momentarily stumped Southwest’s customer relations people. They bumped it up to Herb’s [Kelleher, CEO of Southwest] desk, with a note: ‘This one’s yours.’
In sixty seconds, Kelleher wrote back and said, ‘Dear Mrs. Crabapple, We will miss you. Love, Herb.’”Do I hear clap, clap, clap?
For businesses to put unreasonable customers first instead of their employees, it amounts to pure betrayal.
The customer is always right is wrong: simply because
- Customers can decide to demand anything, I mean, they are right?
- Rude customers get better service
- Employees feel undervalued, resulting in WORSE customer service - A customer one day came in shouting at a local bank and was being plain unreasonable, even going as far as abusing the employees and calling them incompetent/idiots. No amount of effort could calm her down and she became irrational. The branch manager intervened and told the customer "I am sorry we cannot assist you, and you are being abusive to the staff here which is simply unacceptable. If you cannot sit down and have a decent conversation, you can proceed and close your account". If the manager had not intervened, the employees would have been demoralized and treated even the slightest irrational customer as an evil fireball
Of course, this does not mean that employees can get away with crap customer service. It simply means some customers are just plain wrong, that businesses are better off without them, and that managers siding with unreasonable customers over employees is a very bad idea, that results in worse customer service.
So put your people first. And watch them put the customers first.
Saturday 19 May 2012
Fun at Work - The Southwest Airlines Way!
A Southwest flight attendant said this as the door was opened at the end of a flight: "OK, now
I'm going to tell you exactly what my Mama told me on my 18th birthday.
GET OUTTA HERE."
From a Southwest Airlines employee: "There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane."
"Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but they'll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you or your money more than Southwest Airlines."
:-) smile smile smile!
The above are just some fun comments made by Southwest employees during their normal day to day duties. Majority of us would probably find it hard to fathom that this can be told to clients especially in the service industry
Working with clients we are normally dictated to by an inside power that the process is : plastic smile, plastic greeting, how can I assist you, oh we are so sorry, that is wonderful, serious face, thank you very much, have a wonderful day, another plastic smile... then serious face. huh? ring a bell?
Fun at work is a culture that is nurtured and grown. Most of us humans are fun beings and given a choice to be serious or serious and fun, we will most likely take the latter. However, sub-versions are created that have us shedding the fun and we end up with "plastic employees"
"Something unusual is going on at Southwest Airlines. Everyone is happy. They all kiss and hug, even President Colleen Barrett and CEO Gary Kelly. Average Southwest employees like the big bosses. They want to get their picture taken with Kelly. They admire him."
How do we get this fun? It all starts in the hiring process. The Southwest Airlines interviews are nutty in as much as they are serious, amongst the most meticulous.. The interviews are designed to get that extra thing from an individual. Using the seventh sense.... (now that common sense became the sixth sense)
Libby Sartain, vice president of the People Department, says,only half-jokingly, that taking a job with Southwest is like joining a cult. The ultimate employee is someone whose devotion to customer and company amounts to “a sense of mission, a sense that ‘the cause’ comes before their own needs.”
Colmenares speaks in the same near-spiritual terms. What’s he looking for in a candidate? “An attitude,” he says. “A genuineness- a sense of what it takes to be one of us.”
Secondly all employees must feel valued. If they feel valued, then they feel part of the organization. When someone feels part of something, chances are they will give they heart to the job and why not have some fun while at it?
Actually, the best companies at this value their employees more than they value their customers!
"You put your employees first and if you take care of them, then they will take good care of you," Herb Kelleher, the airline's chairman, said. "Then your customers will come back, and your shareholders will like that, so it's really a unity."
Managements need to realise that the organization culture is a mirror of their actual selves. FUN at the workplace begins with them. When the CEO is smiling, everyone smiles, when the CEO laughs heartily with employees and at their jokes, it creates AMAZING rapport. The horrible truth is that the OPPOSITE of the above is also true......
Kellher (former CEO) has his fun, and it has trickled all the way down.... (he even chose a wrestling arm match to settle a certain dispute :-) )
Crazy but true....
From a Southwest Airlines employee: "There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane."
"Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but they'll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you or your money more than Southwest Airlines."
:-) smile smile smile!
The above are just some fun comments made by Southwest employees during their normal day to day duties. Majority of us would probably find it hard to fathom that this can be told to clients especially in the service industry
Working with clients we are normally dictated to by an inside power that the process is : plastic smile, plastic greeting, how can I assist you, oh we are so sorry, that is wonderful, serious face, thank you very much, have a wonderful day, another plastic smile... then serious face. huh? ring a bell?
Fun at work is a culture that is nurtured and grown. Most of us humans are fun beings and given a choice to be serious or serious and fun, we will most likely take the latter. However, sub-versions are created that have us shedding the fun and we end up with "plastic employees"
"Something unusual is going on at Southwest Airlines. Everyone is happy. They all kiss and hug, even President Colleen Barrett and CEO Gary Kelly. Average Southwest employees like the big bosses. They want to get their picture taken with Kelly. They admire him."
How do we get this fun? It all starts in the hiring process. The Southwest Airlines interviews are nutty in as much as they are serious, amongst the most meticulous.. The interviews are designed to get that extra thing from an individual. Using the seventh sense.... (now that common sense became the sixth sense)
Libby Sartain, vice president of the People Department, says,only half-jokingly, that taking a job with Southwest is like joining a cult. The ultimate employee is someone whose devotion to customer and company amounts to “a sense of mission, a sense that ‘the cause’ comes before their own needs.”
Colmenares speaks in the same near-spiritual terms. What’s he looking for in a candidate? “An attitude,” he says. “A genuineness- a sense of what it takes to be one of us.”
Secondly all employees must feel valued. If they feel valued, then they feel part of the organization. When someone feels part of something, chances are they will give they heart to the job and why not have some fun while at it?
Actually, the best companies at this value their employees more than they value their customers!
"You put your employees first and if you take care of them, then they will take good care of you," Herb Kelleher, the airline's chairman, said. "Then your customers will come back, and your shareholders will like that, so it's really a unity."
Managements need to realise that the organization culture is a mirror of their actual selves. FUN at the workplace begins with them. When the CEO is smiling, everyone smiles, when the CEO laughs heartily with employees and at their jokes, it creates AMAZING rapport. The horrible truth is that the OPPOSITE of the above is also true......
Kellher (former CEO) has his fun, and it has trickled all the way down.... (he even chose a wrestling arm match to settle a certain dispute :-) )
Crazy but true....
Tuesday 15 May 2012
SouthWest Airlines - Profit after Profit!! - Crazy Pricing Model and Strategy
I am always intrigued by Southwest airlines, it is a case of a company whose success story is straight out of a story book and whose simplicity does not cease to mesmerize.
Formed in the early 70's, the airline has raked in profits after profits, year after year even in the turbulence that hit the airline industry on the turn of the millenium
It is one whose strategy is so simple, it would seem ridiculous even to a nursery going kid... but isn't that what strategy is supposed to be? Simple and whose idea is basic, clear and most of all stupid? Keeping It Simple and Stupid?
I beg to be corrected, but these are ideas that can be incorporated locally (Kenya) yet we are consistently treated to a baggage of seminars, conferences, meetings and de-meetings to discuss this animal called strategy, coming up with goals, plan whose end product confuses even the employees themselves. If the employees are confused, then who will sell the company or its products?
Taking a flight back to Southwest, their success story is basically defined by their simplicity, efficiency, and FUN! Yes, FUN!! and loads of it
In the next few days I will delve into the success story bit by bit.
So what does their pricing model strategy have to do with it? Most people maybe directed to think that low pricing = great volumes = more profit. Right? Wrong! Infact, you might just end up with a whole load of * in your face.
The low prices at southwest were executed with genius strategy, that raked in profits and left other airlines shell shocked. Check this out:-
A Southwest customer couldn’t be treated to first class, couldn’t get food, couldn’t book them as part of a larger trip, couldn’t book with them through an agent, and couldn’t even preselect their seat. All of these features are exactly what defined a competitive airline at the time. And, all of these features added COST. Instead, Southwest Airlines selected a specific target customer
Reduced costs translates into MORE profits
Already, we have a mental picture of what flying in the airline is, even though none of us has and probably never will fly the airline. BUT, therein lies STRATEGY....
The service described does not meet the wants of EVERY customer that could have flown Southwest Airlines, but it does describe those of the target customer. And, given the choice of mediocre satisfying everyone at a high cost or highly satisfying a select few at a low but profitable price, Southwest Airlines rightly chose the latter.
Infact, one customer was sooooo dissatisfied with their service that Southwest had to let go of the customer(FIRED!). Yes, fired... that is a story for another day
Allow me to digress to a more familiar example, Equity Bank. Love them or hate them, hats off to the man who dared to think, and we are seeing the fruits today.
Back in the day, no one dared touch the low income earners. Focus was solely on the big money, big corporations big individuals, deep pockets. But James Mwangi came in and said, "hey, wait a minute, there is a whole population that is un-banked, and if I can manage to bank them, then......."
Already, he had a STRATEGY... he moved from the norm (strategy should be different). He decided to focus on a totally different market. While banks were closing shop in rural areas, he was looking for office space to open a branch..
Does coining such an idea need a high level board room retreat to Malindi, with all day meetings in air conditioned rooms????
Many years later, this simple strategy has clearly propelled him to great heights. If right now you stopped a kid going to primary school and asked them what is Equity bank, they would probably tell you " ni banki ya mwananchi"
and when that happens, then you know you have won!
next article, FUN and LUV at southwest......
Formed in the early 70's, the airline has raked in profits after profits, year after year even in the turbulence that hit the airline industry on the turn of the millenium
It is one whose strategy is so simple, it would seem ridiculous even to a nursery going kid... but isn't that what strategy is supposed to be? Simple and whose idea is basic, clear and most of all stupid? Keeping It Simple and Stupid?
I beg to be corrected, but these are ideas that can be incorporated locally (Kenya) yet we are consistently treated to a baggage of seminars, conferences, meetings and de-meetings to discuss this animal called strategy, coming up with goals, plan whose end product confuses even the employees themselves. If the employees are confused, then who will sell the company or its products?
Taking a flight back to Southwest, their success story is basically defined by their simplicity, efficiency, and FUN! Yes, FUN!! and loads of it
In the next few days I will delve into the success story bit by bit.
So what does their pricing model strategy have to do with it? Most people maybe directed to think that low pricing = great volumes = more profit. Right? Wrong! Infact, you might just end up with a whole load of * in your face.
The low prices at southwest were executed with genius strategy, that raked in profits and left other airlines shell shocked. Check this out:-
- NO connections between airlines - The airline did not have the headache of inter-transfers
- NO long haul flights - Faster connnections - basically it is just like having a matatu from mombasa to nairobi and back - but in the air and faster.
- NO inflight meals - Only snacks - no hassles for them
- NO seat assignments - First come, first seated. Increased boarding times, translating into faster departures
- NO segregated classes - More seats: With one class of service, Southwest Airlines could put 137 seats in a 737 versus 128 in a segregated 737.
A Southwest customer couldn’t be treated to first class, couldn’t get food, couldn’t book them as part of a larger trip, couldn’t book with them through an agent, and couldn’t even preselect their seat. All of these features are exactly what defined a competitive airline at the time. And, all of these features added COST. Instead, Southwest Airlines selected a specific target customer
Reduced costs translates into MORE profits
Already, we have a mental picture of what flying in the airline is, even though none of us has and probably never will fly the airline. BUT, therein lies STRATEGY....
The service described does not meet the wants of EVERY customer that could have flown Southwest Airlines, but it does describe those of the target customer. And, given the choice of mediocre satisfying everyone at a high cost or highly satisfying a select few at a low but profitable price, Southwest Airlines rightly chose the latter.
Infact, one customer was sooooo dissatisfied with their service that Southwest had to let go of the customer(FIRED!). Yes, fired... that is a story for another day
Allow me to digress to a more familiar example, Equity Bank. Love them or hate them, hats off to the man who dared to think, and we are seeing the fruits today.
Back in the day, no one dared touch the low income earners. Focus was solely on the big money, big corporations big individuals, deep pockets. But James Mwangi came in and said, "hey, wait a minute, there is a whole population that is un-banked, and if I can manage to bank them, then......."
Already, he had a STRATEGY... he moved from the norm (strategy should be different). He decided to focus on a totally different market. While banks were closing shop in rural areas, he was looking for office space to open a branch..
Does coining such an idea need a high level board room retreat to Malindi, with all day meetings in air conditioned rooms????
Many years later, this simple strategy has clearly propelled him to great heights. If right now you stopped a kid going to primary school and asked them what is Equity bank, they would probably tell you " ni banki ya mwananchi"
and when that happens, then you know you have won!
next article, FUN and LUV at southwest......
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